Wednesday was the last night of my printmaking class and the last time I’ll be in the beginner class. How sad. Last week we did collographs (do I need to remind anyone of my love/hate relationship with this technique?). Well, I must say the love is starting to outweigh the hate, and I’m digging the end result of the process. What I like is the abstract feel they give to my “realistic” prints.

I did jellyfish and the results were amazing, if I do say so myself. The plate was made using fabrics, raffia and broken bits of an ornament. I hated the plate (as usual) but the results, right from the first run, were so fun. Kamla (my instructor) had the idea of just touching color to the high points on the plate. Joan (the TA) had rolled out some teal so I used that. Then I rolled out some pink** because I thought it would look good as the black ink of the collograph started to fade into grey. Then I added both. Here are a couple of views…

Last weekend our local Daniel Smith had a few printmaking workshops. I went to one and it turned out that it was cancelled. Luckily they have a fellow who works there on the weekends who has his BFA in Printmaking from the UofW. Joe works mainly with wood so he demonstrated how to plan out and carve a woodblock. It was amazing to watch him work as he made it look so easy. He uses Japanese wood carving tools though and he says he makes sure they are really sharp. To see him drag these blades towards him is a bit unnerving. I think I’ll stick with the western style tools (although Joe swears they’re more dangerous). Anyway, he also demonstrated lino and safetykut and then printed up a little print for each of us. To be honest it was a little hard to concentrate by the end, Joe is also pretty easy on the eyes. Anyway, this week in class I started my first woodcut. We’ll see, but I must say, I enjoy the carving. It’s hard to do, easy to mess up – a challenge. I love it.

** because jellyfish are pink. but sadly, no one in my class got the joke. not a single one watches SpongeBob. this makes me sad.